


Slick Roads

by HyperKey (Sylverstia), Sylverstia



Series: Chronological Order [29]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 11:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17621732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylverstia/pseuds/HyperKey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylverstia/pseuds/Sylverstia
Summary: Failure is an ever looming concept, always there, never truly gone.How to deal with it?





	Slick Roads

**Author's Note:**

> Yo! another fic. I am trying to get back into things, it's been wild.  
> Thank you all for still sticking with me!
> 
> Enjoy the read

By the time Cory had turned around, it had already happened. Screeching tires, screaming pedestrians, a shrieking girl, and the endless cursing of a man.

Gavin was furious.

Cory had needed too long to assess the situation. To find a working solution and reconstruct it. B the time he had decided to hack the car to enable the emergency breaks, Connor had already come to a conclusion.

It wasn’t elegant or textbook.

But it was effective.

And it had saved Emma from getting hit by a car.

In turn, however, Connor had been hit by it, and even though the Car had immediately braked when it sensed the obstruction, the android had been hit full on after he had pushed Emma out of the way.

Emma was sitting on the floor, shaking, sobbing. Gavin tried to get her to focus on him but seemed to be trapped in a loop of thoughts.

It took only 3 seconds before Cory was able to shake himself out of the shock and surprise. The humans never noticed, but a nasty sensation spread through his chest when his eyes finally turned to look at the downed android.

Connor had been hit in the side, fallen to the ground. Is skull plating had been damaged and thirium was gushing out of the wound. The plating on his hands was shredded, they were bleeding too, his jacket filthy from the wet ground, legs angled, but unmoving.

The only movement where the desperate tries to curl bring his hands to his chest, but his arms wouldn’t budge.

Cory could hear the damaged servos straining against the effort.

He could hear the androids rapid breathing has his systems overheated.

LED a bright crimson, spinning rapidly.

The damage was severe, yet Connor had gotten lucky. Nothing vital had been hit, and he would most likely be fine once a technician looked him over.

By now the people in the precinct had noticed the commotion outside, and Hank was one of the people of the group who rushed over to help.

He pushed past Cory, no regard for the android standing in the middle of the road.

Cory couldn’t take his eyes off the RK800. This shouldn’t have happened.

“You’re so fucking stupid you know that?!” Hank shouted at Connor, but his words held no bite.

The way his hands gently smoothed down the disheveled hair and grasped one of the damaged hands, Cory knew that Hank would take care of him. They were close enough to the precinct. Help was already there.

Gavin whistled loudly and Cory’s head snapped into his direction. The human sometimes did that to get his attention when the were far away from each other.

Willing his legs to move, despite them feeling significantly heavier than it should have been possible, he made his way over to the detective. Gavin looked as spooked as everyone else. There was no anger in his face, but Cory searched for it. He should have been mad. He should have been angry.

Why was he not blaming him for what happened?

He was the more advanced model. He should have reacted faster. He could have prevented that.

“Cory, stop that.” Gavin hissed at him, as if he had read his thoughts. “There’s nothing you could have done.”

Emma was still crying, pressed into Gavin’s shirt as violent sobs shook her body. Was this how a child reacted to an accident she got out of unscathed? Had she seen it happening?

Unlikely.

Why was she so disturbed?

Gavin rubbed her back, rocked her silently and ran a hand over her back. “Shh. Everything is going to be okay. You hear me?”

Emma only nodded against Gavin’s shirt.

Cory turned back to face Connor, who was still on the ground. From his changed angle he could see wide brown eyes staring blindly ahead, unfocused. The android couldn’t move, but he was trying, and panic had gripped him.

There was nothing anyone could do, except a technician. Cindy was already unpacking her suitcase to reveal all of her tools.

Cory felt strangely detached from it. The hollow feeling in his chest got more and more unpleasant, and only When Gavin stood and grabbed his arm, he realized he was shaking violently. No doubt his own LED would be red too.

“Come on, lets give them space.” Gavin muttered. “Chris, we’re going inside.”

The officer in question nodded an affirmative and Gavin carried Emma back into the precinct, Cory followed close behind, was suddenly steadied by two hands when he stumbled over his own feet.

Detective Collins looked at him with concern. Ben. That’s how they all called the man.

“Do you need anything?”

What did he need? A small irrational part of his processor wanted to turn back the time. The rest was blaming him for being too slow.

“No.” he managed to say. “Thank you.” It sounded strained.

Ben let go of him. “If you need anything, just ask.”

“Understood.”

How was he able to form words so easily when all his systems were in turmoil? Would a human feel nauseous? Connor had mentioned that, at times he had a similar sensation.

Connor.

The android who was lying on the wet road with horrendous damage to his frame.

His brother. So, to speak.

Cory didn’t understand the meaning of family, but he was aware of the significance for humans.

A brother was a person one grew up with, a sibling. A person from the same parents. Usually. By that definition, they were more fraternal twins than just brothers.

The realization stabbed his chest and he nearly doubled over with the force of it.

Gavin was sitting in is chair, Emma in his lap, calmly speaking to her.

While the pedestrians had been in distress and Emma had entered a state of shock, Gavin was calm and collected. Was it because of his job?

Cory would have never given in to emotion I another person had been hit. If it had been a bystander, he wouldn’t have spiraled into this train of thoughts.

Why now?

“You good tin can?” Gavin asked silently.

Cory started to nod before he fully realized the question. He feared, that if he admitted he wasn’t alright, he would be blamed for failing his task.

He was supposed to be better than Connor, faster, sturdier. He would have been able to withstand the blow with much less damage.

“Sit down.” Gavin ordered.

On a normal day he would have argued, but now he just took the unoccupied chair from the desk behind Gavin and sat down on it.

“I know what’s going on in your head right now and stop that. This was not your fault.”

How did Gavin now this?

“No one is at fault. Except the driver. Got that?”

“Yes.” His voice cracked. He had tried to prevent it, but the stress on his system was straining.

Gavin nodded, shielded Emma’s eyes when Hank and Chris brought Connor in. The android was unable to move, but he was fully online. There was minimal damage to his internal system, but the processor for movement had been damaged. It looked horrendous, and yet it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

“It only looks bad.” Cory then managed to say. “His body can be repaired.”

Emma slumped in relief at the news. “…He saved me. Again.”

Cory did not correct her on the fact that she was standing far enough away to scramble out of harm’s way if her fight or flight instinct had kicked in in time.

There was no reason to blame this girl for anything.

Cory knew what had happened to her the year before. He knew it was Connor who had saved her in an unconventional way.  He also knew that Connor had fallen off the roof and shut down thirty-two seconds after he had landed on the pavement.

It had all carried over when they had interfaced the first time. Connor seemed unaware of it, and Cory wasn’t going to question it.

Cory also didn’t mention that he should have been able to save Connor from this.

Right now, everyone was still in shock. But later they would realize that he had been standing right there.

Connor himself might even blame him for the failure.

He flinched when Gavin grabbed his hands. “Calm down.” He moved his chair closer. Their knees touching. “It happened. We can’t change that. Stop thinking about that, okay?”

Cory lowered his head. This strange feeling, he couldn’t describe. It was unpleasant. Was it guilt?

“This could have… If I had been faster-“

Gavin shook his head. The small waft of air hit Cory in the face. It was strangely calming. “Forget the ‘what if’s’. They never help. It happened, you failed. That happens. It’s no big deal.”

“He could have-“

“Stop it Cory. It’s not your fault.”

Cory looked back at Gavin, his eyes furious. “But-“

“No.” Gavin hissed.

Emma climbed off his lap then and headed for the breakroom. Neither of them questioned it.

“There is no reason to blame yourself.”

“I could have prevented it! If I had preconstructed faster. I failed my purpose-“

Gavin grabbed his shoulders, jolted him. “Listen to me!” Gavin yelled. “Everyone makes mistakes! That doesn’t make you a fucking failure!”

Cory couldn’t understand Gavin. How could he not see this?

“If I fail my purpose, I become obsolete… I need to be replac-“

Gavin rose from his chair and slapped the android across the face. Before Cory had any chance to recover from that, Gavin grabbed his shoulders again.

“Look at me!” he growled

Cory didn’t move.

“Fuckin glook at me!”

Only slowly Cory lifted his head. “Everyone in this fuckign precinct has been in a situation they couldn’t prevent! Yes, even me! You’re not special for failing and you won’t get special treatment for it! It’s shit, it happens, but if you blame yourself for this, you’ll never move past it. And you said it yourself, Connor will be fine, so why the fuck are you doing this?!”

Gavin panted after he finished, face red in anger. He slumped down heavily in his chair and shook his head.

Emma returned with a cup of coffee for Gavin and a glass of water for herself. “I couldn’t find any thirium.” She muttered silently.

Her eyes were puffy and red, her clothes roughed up and a bit dirty. Nothing what would be permanent.

“Thanks.” Gavin took the cup and put it to his lips, cursing that it was hot.

“I just made it, of course its hot.” Emma sighed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, medics then checking Emma and Gavin over. They found nothing of interest and left quickly. Fowler took all their statements and after that was done two hours had passed.

Gavin was ready to pack up and return home when he noticed Hank and Connor walk back into the bullpen. The android looked shaken, but there was no visible damage left. Hank kept him upright, however.

“His system needs to recalibrate to bring all sensors back online.” Cory explained when he noticed Gavin’s concerned glance.

Emma had already approached the android and hugged him tightly. Connor looked tired, and Cory flinched when his eyes focused on him.

‘I didn’t preconstruct.’ He sent over a cybernetic connection between them. ‘I acted without thinking.’

Cory wondered if one day he would also be able to fully rely on experience, without having to consult his programming for the best approach first.

‘Thank you.’ He sent back. Connor seemed to understand for what.

‘When the time comes, you will learn how to do that.’

Cory only nodded, somewhat content with that answer. It wasn’t what he had expected to hear, he still wondered why no one would blame his failure.

But for now, that was okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are my fuel, help me write more!  
> [Fanart by the lovely omii! Give it a like! ](https://twitter.com/SorceringingArt/status/1097271866639691777).  
> 


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